And in we dive to reality radio 98 Q country from the Aspirus Health Studio It's Wednesday the 29th of July and I'm sitting in studio with Glenn Glenn of signature signing graph graphics and everything else going on north of Park Falls You're probably involved in it.
That's just kind of how butternut works, isn't it?
How's it going today?
Good good finally get
a
You get to take a breath.
Yes, and we actually didn't even get to talk to you last week because like you mentioned, you wound up in the face of pioneer days coming.
You ended up with other stuff and of course you got your business to run.
So I'm super glad to see you this morning.
Would have been great to talk to Don again and please pass that on to him if he's not listening today.
Well, it's funny you
say that because Don actually, you know, he's one of the main guys that helps put the sign year after year after year.
Don's been doing this forever and he ended up sick.
Uh, actually right after, right after
Yeah.
So he was, uh, he was AWOL.
Um, but thankfully he's okay.
Um, still recovering.
Uh, but yeah, we, uh, we definitely had to scramble a little bit.
Um, so that actually brings me to my first point.
Um, you know, when, when something like that happens, we do have a pretty good core people that, that put this on year after year.
And when something like this happens, people step in.
Yep.
And I want to give a big shout out number one to actually Don's brother Tom who was the parade marshal this year Tom stepped in as always
He's not on the committee, but he's there every year helping out wherever he can.
He's up there all weekend doing whatever we need him to do.
And then the smart family, Jenny Smart and Dan and Linda Smart jumped right in and filled down shoes for the weekend and did an incredible job.
I saw Tom's face on the post on Facebook about the parade marshal.
And actually, funny enough, you know, the way the Northwoods works, I'm not sure.
I've ever officially met Tom Christian, but I was like, I know that guy.
I've seen him everywhere.
I've seen him involved in everything.
It's like, yeah, Brad Marshall.
Absolutely on the list.
How'd it go though?
How'd everything go?
You always have a few things that pop up that you gotta take care of, but overall, fantastic weekend.
The weather held out.
It was a little hot.
but you cannot complain anytime you get through a festival, a four day festival like that without a storm, we're very thankful
here and there on Saturday.
Doesn't even count.
Yeah, we will gladly take that every year.
Awesome.
Yeah, it started out Thursday night.
Great turnout for the women's softball game, the alumni game.
They won slow pitch this year and what a fantastic game.
Great turnout.
I believe they had 21-22.
ladies show up all different ages uh and very entertaining to watch so that was a big hit the rib fast that jenny wegener puts on from butternut cafe uh big hit as well uh just nice and relaxed atmosphere to kind of kick it off before the big i shouldn't say storm but before the chaos
weekend so um so yeah and then um uh we kind of kicked it off friday with the uh
upper 13 baseball game between our own butternut bulldogs and the Glidden Orioles.
The Glidden team winning, I believe it was 12-5, a very competitive game.
I kind of kicked it off.
And I got some winners and stuff here that I want to announce.
The volleyball tournament Saturday, we had an under 18
Tournament and an over-18 tournament.
Okay.
I don't know the winners the actual team name But it was a bunch of local girls.
I think it was an all-girl team.
Okay that won the the 18 under Tournament and the over-18 was for tech tree farm.
All
local family congrats
fam And then softball
uh... all weekend while saturday sunday should say uh... very competitive tournament again uh... double deese once again you know the brennan family uh... coming out on top very competitive game took him uh... we went to max max games uh... so they topped restore you restore you taking second and smart plumbing uh... pretty much all locals so very very competitive very exciting uh... so that was softball
Uh, get into Sunday, uh, the parade.
Um, and again, Don usually heads all that up.
So, uh, Dan Smart had to jump in there, kind of organize.
Um, you know, when, when you're in the parade year after year, you don't get to see all of it as it unfolds.
But all the comments I got on that was fantastic parade.
Yep.
A lot of, a lot of hard work put into the floats.
A lot of businesses entering floats this year.
Um,
Shout out to the Schwabian marching band once again.
We had the pipes and drums of Thunder Bay again.
But everybody said what an awesome parade.
So I have some winners for that.
We have three categories that we do.
The best overall this year was Butternut Cafe.
Most community spirit was Nate Pritzle Construction, and most creative was Smart Plumbing and Heating.
then we also have, if you enter a float,
into the parade, we have random drawings of, there's five $100 random drawings.
And if you did not get paid on that yet, please come and let me know.
It's hard to disperse all these, everything at the end of everything.
But here are the five winners for that.
NABE Pritzle Construction, Dollar General, Elite Docks, Northwood Services, and Parkfields Builders.
So those were the five $100 winners out of the random drawing for entering the float on the parade.
Then we move on to the 50-50 raffle.
These tickets were sold well in advance and out through the weekend.
And this one was Ninah Hill.
great little gal so very uh very excited that she won that round and it was well over a
all right and then we have um the horse pole winners uh we got lucas jake ups and then we got victor drost and the heavyweight and the team star ward was jordan kerth this year
So where does that put me here?
I think I got pretty much all the winners.
I don't have the mudrun winners.
Those will be posted.
I think that that about covers it.
So I do want to hit the sponsors real quick.
Absolutely.
We try to give them as many shout outs as we possibly can.
Me and you talked last time, we were here after we were on the air.
To read all 100 plus sponsors, you need one of those real fast speed readers, or you could just speed up my voice real bit so I sound like the chipmunk.
everybody on it.
But I do wanna hit the main sponsors real quick here.
These these eight entities will start with them are the ones that form the committee all nonprofits in the Butternut area So we have the Butternut Park Association, Butternut Lions Club, Butternut American Legion Post 272, Butternut Area Business Alliance, Trail Medjits ATV Club, Butternut Fire Department, Butternut Knights of Columbus, and the Butternut Fair Board So those are the the eight entities that make up the committee that put this on every year
Now we'll go right to our main sponsors, and I'll read through these really quick so I don't bore everybody.
problem.
So we have Forward Bank, Butternut Cafe, Winterwoods, River Valley Mutual Insurance Company, Northwoods Community Credit Union, Butternut Area Business Alliance, Signature Sign, Tom Miller Electric, Terry and Patty Palachek, Super One Foods, St.
Croix.
Smart plumbing and heating, master care lawn services, slayer logging, rank and services, Randy and Cindy Zesh, Park Falls Hardwoods, Marshfield Clinic, Dave Zesh Trucking, D&D Tire and Auto, the Class of 1981, Care Review of Monacoa, Bobbers on the Lake, Birch Street Funeral Service, Big River Repair, AC Carpet Plus, Accel Energy, and Larry and Shelley Maveriden.
So those were our main sponsors this year.
And like I said, there's, there's well over a hundred sponsors and I can't get through them all.
I know I think you've mentioned some sponsors too on your Facebook page, the Pioneer Days Facebook.
Nice and active here in the season of summer and when things are going on.
You guys keep everything posted there.
I don't think you and I have discussed anything that hasn't shown up there.
That's whoever's, who runs the Facebook page for the group?
Jenny Smart again.
Gotcha.
Okay.
And I think you might have given her a shot.
out before but that's a it goes it's easy to take for granted that social media person in a volunteer capacity because it's amazing how much time you end up staring at your phone thinking how am I ending up doing this it's 8 p.m.
I've got kids to take care of and here I am it's so big shout out to Jenny for running the social media and making sure we can all stay connected about that.
Boy, I'd like to think that you get a bit of a break here, but there's no way I can virtually guarantee you've had at least one conversation about next year.
What prep have you what prep have you already done?
Well, a lot of it is talking to the food vendors that were there this year, seeing if they're available for next year.
The bands is a big one.
Yep.
And the bands, a real quick shout out to them.
They really had the crowd going this year.
Shotgun Jane on Friday night.
We had Iron Mule on Saturday afternoon.
Always a great one to watch them.
A lot of local talent there.
And then we had Flash Mob come in from Minneapolis, I believe, there from Saturday night.
And then Sunday we went back to Polka.
We had the New Generation Polka Band up there.
And we actually put them outside this year.
Okay.
that one of the things we didn't plan for they just got there early and set up well we're all down at the parade and we came up there like oh they're on the main stage instead of inside well let's see how this works so it actually worked out pretty good so we'll talk about that for next year and then of course we'd love to have them back uh so you make those discussions and then you talk amongst yourselves everybody that's involved um anything that we gotta every there's always something that pops up
about what we can do better, what needs some attention.
So we've already had those internal conversations and of course we'll meet as a group and hash some of them out so we get ahead of it for next year.
thank you for bringing it up, yes.
I do have a few more shout outs.
We had a bigger carnival this year.
Okay.
We wanted more rides for the kids and when they set up,
the space obviously it's a nice big park but there are limitations and they put a couple rides a little too close to our volleyball courts so we actually physically moved an entire court volleyball court about eight to ten feet.
That's possible?
I didn't think so until I was told we were doing it and that was Nate and Cindy Pritzle.
Cindy runs the volleyball tournament, does a phenomenal job with that.
And all of a sudden, Nate calls me up and says, I need your tractor with your postal there.
We got to move volleyball court.
I'm like, you're doing what?
This is Thursday and we're starting Pioneer Days.
So yeah, they made it happen.
They grabbed a Tanbev Seaburger and they just started moving dirt.
They called, they had...
Jake, come from Mastercare.
bring some more sand.
Oh, man.
And we they physically move the volleyball court eight feet.
That's what I was thinking was the sand.
How do you
it wasn't easy?
But they made it work.
And that kind of things, you have to just adapt.
got it done.
It was, absolutely.
So when you get them calls, there's a lot on your plate.
I'm trying to get everything ready for the weekend.
I'm making signs and I'm helping with floats.
And then you deal with that, you're like,
Okay, let's
edge.
Just that was funny
I find that anything you do and like you mentioned early in this conversation No plan survives first contact with the enemy, right?
There's something's gonna go sideways and that's the point of the plan is is so that you can break things in a way that you expect to so Hey big shout out to everybody involved in the last second operations and that's that's you Glenn I'm sure people have thanked you profusely, but on behalf of the community
thank you for heading up what efforts you did and taking part in everything.
Whether you're in charge or not, you're part of the charge.
So thank you so much for making Pioneer Day successful.
I'm just a small part of it, but one other big shout out is the fire department.
You notice when you're up there, the two big tents, they are the ones responsible for putting that tent up, the tents up and taking them down after everything is done.
And then the big cleanup on Sunday when it's all said and done, they're helping, you know,
move stock from this cooler to that cooler and cleaning this up and taking garbage out and it's it's a big it's a
big undertaking.
And they do it usually without any praise.
So a big shout out to the butternut fire department.
What snowflake feels responsible for the avalanche?
That's basically what it is.
You need a million small things to all come together and make that work.
So thank you to everybody who led it to Mr. Christian being the parade marshal and to Mr. Christian for being sick and therefore not being the parade marshal.
Yeah, everybody involved.
Huge shout out.
and thank you for that.
And Glenn, thank you for some time out of a busy schedule.
Like you said last week, things come up.
So we appreciate being able to talk to you and I look forward to having you back for next year's Pioneer Days and for something I can't think of between now and then, I'm sure.
Absolutely.
We'll chat with you again soon on Reality Radio.
Coming up though, we got Ken.
Ken Kay of Kaz's Corner.
He talks all things sports.
You probably know him from Flamborama.
You might know him as a friend of Joel.
He's the next guest on Reality Radio after this.
Our next reality radio guest, we just spoke with Glenn looking back at Pioneer Days.
Now, let's begin looking ahead to Flamborama.
We've got the one and only Ken Kazuba here with us.
He's the voice you've heard for years from the Flamborama softball game.
If you've ever heard of Kaz's Sports Corner, it's a familiar name.
Good morning, Ken.
Thanks for being here.
Hey, good morning.
Thanks for having me on.
I'm glad we've got some time to put you on the schedule today as I would consider this one of the busiest times of the year approaching, you know, maybe competing with Labor Day and Memorial Day.
But here we are right in the middle of summer in the tail end of the baseball season.
But we get some local sports to take part in this weekend when we've got flamborama.
Ken, tell us how'd you end up involved at all with flamborama softball?
Quite a few years ago, back in the mid to late 90s, I was asked to come up with a good friend of mine whose family is from up in the area.
And I came up and played with a lot of the local guys.
And we had a good time.
And once we started playing up here, then it was unlimited arc.
And our ball team that we were with, we were so-so.
The guys were a lot of fun to hang out with.
But then we decided to bring, I decided to bring our own team from down in the Milwaukee West Bend area.
And that's when it got really competitive.
So we had a lot of fun played for over 20 years in that tournament.
And now it's 6 to 12.
It's an interesting tournament from that standpoint because the diamond is 280, with a 280 foot fence.
6 to 12, okay, especially with the new bats.
These new bats are something else.
So playing unlimited arc on that field.
That's what made it really competitive.
The games are competitive still, but it's six to 12 and you're playing with some bats that are really, really, really jacked up bats.
I mean, these bats nowadays are nothing like what we played with 25, 30 years ago.
So it definitely makes for a different dynamic for Swapwell.
Correct.
And the better your pitcher, more than likely, is the better your team's going to be.
But simply because if he can get that first pitch over for a strike, you've got a few more to work with.
Boy oh boy I'll tell you what come Sunday afternoon that sun is right behind the pitchers back at the prime time and and it makes the game incredibly difficult to hit that ball because that ball is coming through the sun and it's coming from sometimes as we used to say Skylab.
So, so basically unlimited arc is playing softball the way you and your little brother used to in the yard when he just used all the dirty tricks shy of throwing sand in your eyes, right?
You guys are really adding a little layer of difficulty to what's supposed to be easier, you know, slow pitch softball, but made difficult because we can.
Yeah, exactly.
So like I said, now with the new dynamic, you know, Erming six to 12.
It makes for an interesting game from that standpoint, but yeah, it's a lot of fun.
Restore U has been sponsoring the tournament, so I gotta give shout-outs to Henry and to Michelle.
Christian Newberry, who has brought all the teams together.
This year's the most teams the tournament has ever had.
There's 16 men's teams, and then there's eight co-ed teams.
So it's gonna be a full venue.
We start Friday night at six o'clock.
and both diamonds will be rock and so the hardball diamond
and the softball diamond will be will be full all weekend long.
So there's going to be a lot of really good softball because there's a lot of good teams in the area this weekend.
And hopefully Ken Joel mentioned we may be able to even chat with you right before that kicks off maybe five p.m.
or so sometime between then and quarter to six before you end up too busy to talk to people on the radio.
But hey you talk to people on the radio all the time.
Ken tell us about your post game show.
Yeah.
So
with my cast sports corner which is a new media outlet i was formerly with on wisconsin sports and what we're doing is uh... i have an affiliation down in the walkie area through one of five seven the fan and tim allen who's a good friend of mine who does the baseball post game show i had took that show on the road a couple of years ago and we were at empty pockets uh... was one of our first shows and tim allen uh... who also has a band called conviction
every night he has a nightly show that talks brewer baseball and the model was after the last pitch make the switch.
So I have been on that show for several years having a lot of fun talking brewer baseball and when we took the show live around northern Wisconsin central Wisconsin people that were listening to the show on a regular basis got to meet the actual show host and his co-host and it really made for an interesting dynamic because you got to put the face to the voice.
The one thing people don't know about Tim is that he's legally blind.
So when he does his broadcasting after the game and talks about the game post-game, his ears are his eyes.
And it's amazing how he articulates the game from that standpoint.
It really is.
And it's funny too, the more you learn about the people behind the microphone, the more you find that stuff like that, not necessarily common, but I mean, human beings
If you look close enough, they're always doing something incredible, I gotta say.
So Ken, we'll be chatting with you on Friday.
You'll be there as you are announcing softball again this year, correct?
Correct.
In fact, I think from 5 to 545, Tim Allen and I will be on with you.
And I just wanted to get, I know we're kind of up against the clock here, but I want people to know that on Friday night, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, we're going to be doing 50-50 raffles.
We have some tremendous sponsors.
As a matter of fact, Crossroads 41.
We are going to be throwing some tickets into the 50-50 raffle for that.
I also have Super One Foods, St.
Croix, that they have given us some gift cards that we're going to be including in raffles, along with Stormy Cromer.
So Stormy Cromer, the hat company has everybody knows them.
They're one of my sponsors as well.
So we're going to be bringing a lot of fun stuff to the diamond.
And then one final thing, if I can get this in, people
Get to Empty Pockets Thursday night.
Harva Ramah.
Oh my gosh, is it going to be a good one?
It's the fourth annual Harva Ramah.
I haven't missed one yet.
He's got a really nice band that's going to be there at eight o'clock.
He does have a band before that, but the band is Nolliam at eight o'clock.
Harvey does it right with his brother Ben.
It is going to be a rock in time.
And that's the unofficial kickoff to the 73rd annual Flamborama.
I can't I can't agree more.
And I, you know, I remember when Harvorama kind of started picking up steam and I thought, what an awesome thing because it's it's kind of bold, you know, like, hey, let's start it over here.
But all of the best things start with a bold idea done well.
And that is Harvorama on Thursday before flamborama right there at empty pockets.
Ken, I appreciate you making some time for us this morning.
Where can people meet you this weekend if they want to run into you shake a hand?
We'll be at that.
Well, you can always come over to the softball time and I'll be up there in the concession stand On the second level of that concession stand, but I'm in the area.
I do have a Wireless microphone, so I put all that together last year up there in the booth So be walking around talking to people having some fun, you know, this festival is all about the people This is such a great town park falls and and I'm so Delighted to be part of what they do up there and Henry and Michelle
having me do my thing as I did with the Legion for many years helping those guys out as well.
It's really a lot of fun, but I'm looking forward to seeing everybody again.
There's a lot of fun people that come to this event and the crowd should be quite big.
It looks like the weather is going to be very good for this weekend.
Right before you, we were talking to Glenn Wagner, heavily involved with pioneer days that took place over the weekend and we were talking about that balance.
You know, it's a lot of this stuff appeals to the people coming in from out of town, but the locals too.
It's about everybody in the area, whether you're here for the weekend or here for the year, flammarama and everything like it.
all needed.
Let's let our hair down.
It's going to be a beautiful weekend.
Stop by as we're broadcasting live 5 p.m.
to 5 45 and our live broadcast is going longer than that.
But can you and Tim will be there broadcasting with us?
Can't wait to see it flamborama this Friday.
Thanks again.
Great and I'm looking forward to
We'll chat soon.
Have a good day.
Take care, Ken.
Thank you so much.
That's Ken Kazuba, the PA announcer of Flamborama Softball.
Also the owner of CAS's Sports Corner, new sports media group.
You might recognize Ken.
He appears frequently on post game shows for Brewer Baseball with Tim Allen, who will be there with us with Ken, with me and Joel Friday evening right there at the fairgrounds of Flamborama.
You'll be able to spot us.
We'll have flags and banners and a canopy with our name on it and we're
has it, I believe, will even be up on a elevated surface for you to find us pretty easily.
So, hey, stick around.
Reality Radio is going to continue on the other side of 9 o'clock.
It's 8.59 and you're listening to 98Q Country.
you
Quick correction to a statement I made.
We won't have Tim Allen there in person on Friday, but it will be us and Ken, and he will be joining us.
Tim Allen will via phone.
So my bad on that one.
Who's there in person?
Who's there by phone?
If you're tuning in by 98Q Country Methods, you might not even be able to tell he's not there in person, but stop down physically to meet me, Joel and Ken, and well, we'll be broadcasting when Tim's by phone.
Ken, thank you so much for correcting my-
mistake there and for appearing on reality radio I've got to get your details I'll send you a text message so we can work out getting you on make the call sometime in the future right this moment though 906 a.m.
We're gonna dive in a little bit early with Courtney of the Park Falls area Chamber of Commerce Courtney T-minus two days yes
And barely even that, a day and a half, really, depending on how you want to look at it.
Are you excited, nervous?
A little of both?
A little bit of more than that, maybe?
Always excited.
Nerves, not as much.
This is not my first rodeo, so I'm a first flamborama.
Like, this is my third one as being the lead in many, many years of being a volunteer, so...
Every year you, you know, you, you prepare for as much as you can and you know the unexpected is going to happen.
And the best thing is, is when no one notices the thing that went wrong.
So that's what you hope for.
There'll, there'll always be a story.
There's always, there's always something that pops up and it's, it's usually you can laugh about it later in the.
It's like nobody look at me.
Yeah, don't make eye contact.
Don't
there's very little sleep that happens forever announced flamborama, you know is amping up and starting for me and my very very very
appreciated assistant Alina.
Flamborama has been going on for us for like weeks now.
We've been preparing and doing all the background stuff that needs to be done for it along with many of our wonderful volunteers who have stepped up and taken on roles because we have a lot of people who are retiring from their long-term roles as volunteers with things and new people are kind of taking the reins on stuff so there's always that um little bit of like a lot more questions and things like that that pop up but
It's really, it's gonna be a great time.
We have already starting today.
There's tons of entertainment happening.
Park Falls Farmers Market this afternoon.
They have Children's Day going on.
The chamber donated some awesome reusable little tote bags.
And I know they're giving out some goodies that the ladies have put inside there.
And they've got a bunch of activities happening at the Farmers Market today.
And we've got Wednesday Night Live tonight, which it looks like, you know, knock on wood.
It's going to be really beautiful, so make sure to go down.
If you want to see some live music tonight's band Uncommon Denominator, they're fantastic.
It's going to be a wonderful show.
And then we ramp right into the beginnings of Harvey at Empty Pockets as the unofficial kickoff for Flamborama starting.
So it's the perfect time to go appreciate some live music, get that good taste in.
And there's also the Miss Flamborama pageant.
So on Thursday, five o'clock at Old Abe Memorial Park, right where Wednesday Night Live is, they are doing the Miss Flamborama pageant so that way all the winners can be present at all of the activities.
going on and gives them an extra day.
So that is a outside in the park.
Make sure to bring your own chair and come and check it out.
So you can do the pageant and then head over to Harvorama afterwards to appreciate some live music.
It's gonna be a wonderful evening.
And then we go right in Friday.
The grounds open at three o'clock.
Food court.
We got the carnival opens at five.
Live music starting at five.
There's just endless activities going on throughout the entire weekend.
A couple things that we wanted to review is Evergreen 5K.
We you can register day of the race begins at 9.
There was a misprint in the paper that had it at the old time, but race starts at 9 a.m.
So you can come check in starting at 8 and races at 9 The Rotary pickleball tournament is happening down on the grounds on the tennis courts at 10 a.m.
You can Register for that day of as well if they have room for teams so make sure to head down there and check that out
And then we have also the kiddie car races on Sunday B&B insurance services hosts those it's an adorable time It's a completely free event to be involved in they just ask that if you let them know if you're heading down because that way they make sure they have enough prizes for all the kids Which it's adorable highly recommend and our parade this year's theme is celebrating 250 years of America You do not have to pre-register, but if you want to be included in our
Float judging, you do need to register.
We have registration is available online, it's completely free, just takes a couple seconds to do.
And also we have paper forms at the office, including outside our door.
This week, as people know, we're running around all over the place, so our office hours are kind of intermittent as we're running down, but you can definitely stop by.
We have a cute little stand right outside our front door that has all the registration forms there.
You can pick them up at your Leisure 24-7.
And also we wanted to thank some of our major sponsors because everyone knows this kind of event does not happen for free.
There's a lot of moving parts.
There's a lot of people involved.
Our diamond sponsors, Forward Bank, Minakwa Chevrolet, and Northwood's Community Credit Union.
And then we've got Super One Foods, Kessinger Wolski, formerly LPK Dental.
and Fiorio Wealth Advisors, Lena's Northern Pines, Ken and Anna down at Birch Street Funeral Service, and Richter Law Office, and Northwood's Realty, again, are co-sponsoring the Free Safe Rides, and those are put on by Family Worship Center, so on Friday and Saturday evening, if you're having a great time and need a ride home, you get a free ride home, you just stop by and see the folks at Family Worship Center, they have their little area set up with their campfire and they're hanging out half-
having a great time and they'll make sure you get home safely.
No problem.
And if people want to listen back for that schedule or find it online, they can do so on your website for the chamberparkfalls.com.
You can check it out on the Facebook page.
We'll post a picture of that.
But a lot of good schedule info.
People can listen back on demand too on 98Qcountry.com.
But I need to follow that great info up with a goofy question.
Absolutely have to.
We have to circle back to something and maybe create a bit of.
debate scenario here because can we still call Harvorama the unofficial start?
It's on the poster.
It's is it the official unofficial start now?
Can we call it that?
I would say that's a safe thing to call it the official unofficial.
I think that yeah, I think we're we've reached that point and it may become the official start at some point at this rate.
The way things seem to be heading.
But well, we quickly came to agreement there.
No debate today.
Harvorama now the official unofficial start of Flammorama.
It's I saw it on the poster.
I thought, all right, you can't you can't just use the you word anymore.
I think we have to modify
things
bit.
So, uh, Courtney, we were talking with Glenn about pioneer days and, uh, I quoted somebody, I don't remember who had the quote, no plan survives first contact with implementation.
Something's going to go sideways.
It's just a question of what, uh, you know, what we might do, is there still anything you guys need?
Are you looking for volunteers to cover a shift at the bar?
Or is there anything like that that you guys could use a hand with still?
There's always room for volunteers.
I know we do.
Um, we always like.
to have some extra hands on deck at the Evergreen just because there's a lot of people and that we do the kids race as well which is adorable but it's always nice to have a couple extra hands on deck just to keep everybody corralled and everybody safe and otherwise we're doing pretty well with volunteers but anyone who's interested in volunteering you can always reach out to the chamber.
We have a list that we keep of people and when they're available
So you can contact us at 715-762-2703.
And tonight we will have Elena running our concession stand at Wednesday Night Live.
You can always pop by and see her in chat.
We will have printed schedules there as well with a
cute little map.
So that way it makes it a little easier to find out when and where the activity you're looking forward to is happening.
6pm.
And it looks like again, knock wood, but I don't think we'll have to worry about whether pushing you any direction.
If that ever happens, though, for those who might not know already, it's right next door there in the former Old Day building, the big brick one on the corner.
That's as far as you guys have to go for any rain issues.
So if you ever drive by on a Wednesday night expecting to see music and it's rainy outside, everybody's just right there.
And there's still bathrooms that are accessible, but bring your own chair, even if there is a rain delay.
Courtney, you're going to be running around with your eyebrows nearing the top of your forehead at some point during flamborama.
If I see you like that, can I stop you briefly and ask, hey, can I help you with something?
Is it okay to do that?
Yes, you sure can.
If I don't respond, it's because my brain is way doing something else 20 miles away already, because I'm always running around.
and the crazy lady.
Not being the crazy lady, though some may may call me that.
I wouldn't necessarily blame them.
We can talk about that another time.
But I find that if you if you've got a demanding enough problem, my my eyes and ears might kind of shut down for a second as I'm running through the thought processes of it.
And you can tell because I'm standing still and staring into space.
It looks like somebody's put me in sleep mode.
It's like, no, no, no, I'm still awake.
I just just give me a second and the processor will catch up.
Yeah, I call it buffering.
Like you just got to give it a few minutes.
It's like, you know, the old computers would dial up internet.
You got to give her a few minutes and eventually it, you know, kicks it.
If you see Courtney buffering, just wait, stand behind her for a moment.
And when she takes off towards whatever the goal is, just follow and contribute wherever she stops and starts lifting things or moving things or telling people where to go.
Courtney, do you have anything more for us before we wrap up for the day and confront the flamborama weekend that starts tomorrow?
I think we covered it.
all probably not though because again the brain is working all different directions but I just want to say a heartfelt thank you to all my volunteers that do help with these events.
After Flamborama I will make sure to have a list and be able to name all of those major players here but it's so appreciated.
These types of things it takes a village to make happen and it's so wonderful to have all these
businesses and individuals and organizations come together and work together to pull something off.
That's this huge and free community event.
So always appreciate that volunteers are doing this out of the goodness of their heart.
Nobody's making tons of money by particip- er, you know.
helping with this.
They're just doing it because they want to do something wonderful for their community.
Every successful community is built on hard work.
It's just a matter of what kind and who's doing it.
And when it comes to flamborama, it's everybody behind a booth, behind a bar who's taking tickets, who's cracking beers, who's providing safe rides home, and speaking of special shout out to the area law enforcement officers for their incredible presence and response.
I've enjoyed a lot of safe flamborama.
Ramas and I don't want to know what it looks like without without that So thank you to everybody who contributes to that effort and hey big shout out to the people who are there after all the fun is over with
trash
bags and hive is vests and if you convert the party back into a park Thank you doubly because it's the work.
Nobody wants to do so.
Thank you guys so much Thank You Courtney for giving us some time this morning people can listen back to this conversation catch some of the details They might have missed in the in the trove a cornucopia a feast a small
For today though, we've got our next guest coming in at about the
Well, technically, Courtney was our 9-15.
We went a little bit early, so we'll have a 9-30 guest who may or may not start a little bit early, but one thing we'll do, squeeze in a country song or two.
How about some watermelon moonshine?
Lady Wilson, fill in a little bit of time for us.
On Reality Radio, we're 98Q Country.
Gray here with you to continue with reality radio and our next event.
It's a day of events, by the way, between Pioneer Days and Flamborama.
And now, the next event on the list, the Presley's Pay It Forward Cancer Ride.
We've got Tom on the phone.
Good morning, Tom.
Good morning.
How are you, sir?
Doing great.
It's been a busy day as it always is on a Wednesday.
But well, I know you're busy too on the job this morning.
And so thank you so much for giving us some time out of a busy schedule.
Tom, can you tell us a little bit about the Pay It Forward cancer ride and how it started?
It basically started out from my daughter having cancer in 2017.
She has diagnosed leukemia during COVID shutdown.
And the community came together and helped her family out.
greatly and my daughter is now in remission and to pay it forward to other families in the community we do events like this and sponsor children and raise toys for the children's cancer unit in Milwaukee which is the closest appropriate facility for our daughter's treatment.
So we just kind of the last five years have been constantly doing this and hopefully helping other families and kids open.
Presley's in remission.
That's an incredible thing to hear and of course that is is what a lot of people would hope for whether it's you or just somebody on the outside observing childhood cancer is one of those things that You can't even think about fairness because if you do you end up bogged down in things that well They don't do anything to contribute but contribute is exactly what you wanted to do and as I understand it Tom This was at least in part Presley's idea too.
Am I correct there?
Mm-hmm.
So you raised a daughter who decided people should
people should give when they're in this kind of circumstance.
And what an incredible thing.
So I believe this is going to be, is this the fifth or sixth?
What number are we on?
This would be the fifth year.
Okay, so fifth year, oh, you mentioned, you did mention the starting date there.
So if people are interested in contributing to the cancer ride, what's the best way to do that?
Just come down to Buckshot Saloon from 12 to four on Saturday, August 8th.
We have a bunch of raffle prizes, food.
Music we actually got a younger man who's I believe he's like 12 or 13 and he's like a guitar prodigy I've seen some of his stuff online and he offered because it's a kids event to come down and play He plays a rock and roll a bunch of different stuff, but it's really neat to see him play He's kind of it seems like an old guitarist that's been reincarnated It's amazing to see this kid play So we also if you guys want to go on to the grandma's toy box in Eagle River
She's giving 20% off of toys there, and if you choose to purchase a choice, say that you're part of the Presley event that day, you can leave it there.
And when Presley, my daughter, goes down for her blood work, just for maintenance to see if she's still cancer-free, we transport all the toys down and donate them to the toy closet.
Yeah, so when my daughter was going through all her like chemo to the brain and spine or she used to call it the sleepy room because they had to put her out under anesthesia or when she lost the ability to walk when she was going to the treatments and was walking with a walker at like three years old, which is insane to see.
that little toy closet that goes off of donations is amazing to see the hope in the children's eyes because that gives them something to look forward to during the day and it goes off of donations.
Just so just to see the kids find hope when they're that sick, it's like a very humbling experience.
So we try to fill it as much as we can and get donations for it every year.
Yeah, one year we had to take a half a trailer full down with a pickup truck full every year so far we've We've done some amazing things with it So we just look for the continued support of the the communities because like I said this It's imperative to the kids that really gives them hope and gives them something to do when they're late up in the hospital room sometimes for 30 days at a time if not more It's kind of like they're in a little jail cell if you don't realize it's it's hard to
keep the kid busy when they're in that growing stage and all that stuff their brains are developing they need to be moving and doing things but they're hooked up to IV poles and chemo poles and they're feeling the crap and so to try to stimulate their minds those kind of things like toys games all that kind of stuff is very
important to the mental health also you know
absolutely and it's easy when you watch a kid who is craving sugar and running around like a headless chicken it's easy to think yeah that's just how kids are and sure that could arguably true but it's true because they are craving that stimulation they they want to learn they want to be moving and active
other sponges man they're just absorbing everything in the world you know
Oh man, I'm so glad that she's in remission right now and I hope for good news next time you go.
But what's one thing you've seen that's come out of this that you might call a benefit?
Has she taken an interest in any of the medical world or anything like that?
Well, she's nine now and she'll talk about one day she wants to become a doctor, one day she wants to become a police officer, next day she wants to become an EMT, next day she wants to become a nurse, next day she wants to teach how to ride horses.
So she's
She's got a lot of pots in the fire what she wants to be But it seems to be generally that she wants to help the communities out and stuff like that.
She's a very helpful little person
So for me, I thought I would either be a neurosurgeon or a pastry chef and here we are chatting on the radio So hey, maybe president's got a slightly better idea than I do.
I also just want to take a brief moment Tom I don't think you'd mention it if I didn't do so wanted to thank you out because You've you've taken a moment out of a busy schedule.
You're I believe if I'm not mistaken your problem
probably sitting in a police cruiser somewhere or otherwise contributing the law enforcement in the area so that you could squeeze a moment out of your schedule to chat with us today.
It means a lot.
We appreciate it.
I really appreciate you guys.
We hope to see a really good community response and please come down and say hi to Presley and this year, we're sponsoring a six month old girl that has neurobestoma.
The father took her down in state because she had one of her pupils were different sizes.
and found out that she has a tumor behind her eye and other tumors, I believe, in her pelvis and another location in her body.
And she's only six months old.
So all the proceeds, we make nothing on this.
Everything goes to that family.
So yeah, we used to do the motorcycle ride, but we're trying to open it up to everybody in the community because we found out that not everybody rides motorcycles like we do.
Um, but if you would like to just come down the buck shots at 12 o'clock on August 8th, so be told before and at, um, and sometime during the day, stop down the grandma's toy box.
River.
Alright, you guys take care,
You too, Tom.
Thank you so much.
That's Tom talking about the Presley Pay It Forward childhood cancer benefit.
Like he said, it used to be a motorcycle ride, but not everybody rides motorcycles.
but a lot of people want to help this kind of thing.
So be there, buckshots August 8th, noon to four, and we'll put that event on our events page on 98qcountry.com.
So you can check all the details out in writing if you'd like to do so.
I know you might not think so, but I do like to see things written out.
I don't print things out on paper, but seeing something on the screen, it's different than hearing it.
It sticks a little bit better.
And if you know what I'm talking about, go to 98qcountry.com slash events or just to the main website, 98qcountry.com.
and scroll around a little bit.
You'll see the community calendar along with all the other useful things and fun to have on 98Qcountry.com.
We'll archive this conversation we just had with Tom so you can listen back on the website and coming up here after a quick word from businesses you should know about, we'll chat with Big G about a certain car show taking place this upcoming weekend.
You're listening to Reality Radio on 98Qcountry.
We've got our very own Big G. Big G, we've been chatting briefly off air.
It's probably the busiest week of the year for you.
It is, you know, FlambleRama week.
It's a wonderful week.
Great community festival and it's just amazing how all these businesses step forward and from anywhere from sponsoring the music to the carnival to the, to the, you know, helping out the chamber, the volunteers, everybody that's involved with FlambleRama.
And it is a lot of the behind the scenes work I know from first.
hand by putting on this, uh, by being involved with the night with the North Wisconsin's car show since 1997, which is a big event, uh, coming up here this weekend for flamborama.
Holy cow.
Well, I got involved with the club in 1997.
But the North Texas Car Club has been around long before that.
There's a lot of history of car shows that were downtown.
And we've also had car shows at the.
clinic at Tourist Park, but we've been up to high school here the last several years.
It's worked out well up there at the Schwabgen High School.
All right.
So that'll be this Saturday.
What time do things kick off?
Well, you know, it's funny, Drake.
People get there at seven o'clock in the morning and when I get a good spot right there at the high school, right in front of high school, shade is a little limited.
So they like, they have kind of their certain spots.
So seven o'clock in the morning, cars start showing up.
Official registration starts at nine o'clock or when I get four people there to handle the registration.
The show officially goes from 9 to 3 p.m.
Trophies are presented at 2 30 p.m.
And Myron Nebler, our police chief, thanks to him, he comes up and presents our best to show trophy every year, which is sponsored by Signature Sign and Graphics.
And that's where we get all our trophies through Glen there at Signature Sign and Graphics.
This show is sponsored by all Northern Wisconsin area businesses.
And again, is that the Schwalming High School?
Is this Saturday from 9 to 3?
and shaman high school of course is located right in park falls on 309th street there and uh this event of course is held in conjunction with the big flamborama celebration has been 73 years for flamborama congratulations to the to have a net festival and it's an absolutely free festival for everybody absolutely and car show is no exception there's no admission to come into the car show
We've got a huge number of trophies that we award, which are sponsored by several businesses.
We have classes all the way from 1900 original all the way through 2015.
These classes are divided because, you know, as you know, great body styles change.
60s was the muscle carrier.
70s, missions kind of got in there.
80s, you kind of make your own horsepower at that point.
And then, of course, the current vehicles.
Anybody's welcome.
We've got street rods modified 48 and earlier.
We got customized cars 49 to 60 non-stock street machines 49 to present stock factory muscle cars These are all classes.
There's three trophies in each class.
We got trucks and vans original trucks and vans modified We got two two passenger sports cars because of body changes in there And then we've got convertible class special interest tractors military vehicles vintage campers even got a rat rod class.
You know what a rat
That is great.
I couldn't define it for you, but I know they look nasty in all the best ways.
Yeah.
Yeah.
They're usually are, uh, they're usually are, uh, uh, black, uh, primed black prime vehicles.
They maybe got some skulls on them.
They are, uh, that's what they're, they're rat rods.
So when you get, we get a few of those, we end up making a class for rat rods, uh, several years ago.
And of course we have motorcycles all years and then tuners.
You know what a tuner is?
No clue.
Zero on that one.
You got me.
You see these cars going on and all like his Mitsubishi's.
They got all the lights underneath and everything.
They got the big stereo speakers and stuff.
That's a tuner.
Okay.
We're attracting a younger crowd.
A lot of younger folks have these tuners and they like to dress them up with the loudest stereo's in the can and all the lighting underneath.
So as far from factory
and
yes yes definitely we have trophies for longest distance traveled there's a people's choice trophy up there come on in and expectors and come in get a people's choice ballot vote for their favorite vehicle we have a trophy for that the car registration of course
If you have questions or want to pre-register, you can give me a call at 715-492-2654.
And my email address is also on the poster.
And the poster should be online also.
So take a look at that.
That's Wisconsin Scar Club Facebook.
All right.
And a big list of sponsors, I think.
And hope to see everybody at the Plumberam and this weekend.
And hope everybody can come to the car show.
We have a shuttle bus at the car show.
Bay Area Rail Transit bus services will be transferring people from the car show.
down to the arts and craft fair and everything going on downtown.
We'll drop off also at the entrance of the festival grounds on Fifth Avenue.
And then back to the high school to sort of run every 15 minutes.
Total courtesy of the North Texas Car Club.
Flyfield Lions Food Booth will be there.
Carl's famous brisket.
He's smoking some brisket today.
He'll have the coleslaw.
We're going to have the corn on the cob.
We'll have the brats.
We'll have everything that we have up there.
Donuts and coffee in the morning.
The Flyfield Lions Club.
Thanks to them for putting on the food booth up there.
We're gonna have music of course and a national anthem at noon with the engine revving salute at noon So be sure and stay tuned to that that can get pretty loud.
So
ago when you fired that one off
was doing a pretty good job with
sponsors.
Yep.
Be sure and fire those cars up about 15 minutes before so your engines are nice and hot
before you...
before you get on them.
So of course, of course, in most car club, car club people know that.
Oh
makes a lot of sense.
Classic car.
Yup.
All right.
Sponsor list here going through real quick.
I want to thank all these sponsors.
They step forward every year, sponsor our trophies and our dash plaques.
I'm just going to rattle through the list.
I apologize if I owe anybody.
There will also be a big banner up there with all our sponsors on it.
And I was going to start to list Anderson's body shop here.
Phillips, Matheson Oswald, Accounting, Forward Bank, Wargato and Truck Center, Phillips Service Center, State Farm Insurance and Park Falls, North's Realty and Property Manager, Park Falls and Phillips, Country Cafe and Firefield, J's Automotive, Joe's Auto Glass, Restore U, Car Quest Auto Parts and Park Falls, D&D Tire and Auto Center, Park Falls Family Restaurant.
Jack's Corner Bar, Nudges Community Credit Union and Park Falls, Fifefield Lions Club, A&W Rutbeer and Phillips, Hastings Concrete and Park Falls, J&A Services Marine and Power Sports, Schwagman Home Furnishings, Park Falls and Ashland, Signature Sign and Graphics, AC Carpet Plus,
Firefield Grocery and Smokehouse.
Our brats will be there from the Firefield Grocery and Smokehouse.
Be sure and take in those.
Northwood Supper Club and Firefield.
Riverside Garage and Park Falls.
Of course, 98Q Country, the whole staff here at WCQM and WPFP.
Park Falls Chamber of Commerce, the Schwamgen High School, want to thank John Oswald and Kevin Shulke, very instrumental in helping us, letting us use the venue there, and Kevin's very instrumental in providing all the supplies and everything we need.
Thanks to them for doing that for us.
Phillips Lumber and Hardware, you've got Park Falls Plumbing and Heating, Burt Street Funeral Service, Ron Ernst Lumber and Five Field.
The, uh, of course we talked about Chief Neveller and the Park Falls Police Department, uh, for providing our best to present our best to show trophy.
Thank all my North West classic car club members.
They're all the work and all the volunteering they do.
Um, Jen's butternut cafe and butternut, of course, Moose Jaw Resort, Jeff Hyken and Roofing, John's auto works in Five Field, the Big Dipper bar.
Of course, the Burt Bus Service, CNR Power Sports.
Carl makes that delicious brisket every year.
And Lena's Northern Pines Resort.
And I think I've got them all covered.
Big thank you to all those sponsors.
You can see there's a lot of sponsors that step forward every year that make this show possible.
You sure?
That looks like it might have been printed two-sided.
He
I think that's right.
So unless my eyes...
I went to Goofy, I think I covered everybody, so.
And again, this Saturday, looking forward to seeing everybody there at the Chamomile High School.
Show goes from nine to three.
And come on up, take advantage of the shuttle bus service.
Like I say, you can see the whole flamble ram with the car show, the arts and crafts, everything going on down at the festival grounds and so forth, so.
So, looking forward to seeing everybody at the Northwoods Classics Car Show this weekend.
9-3 on Saturday, August 1st.
Big
tall, but walk up, shake a
can't wait to
car show I can't wait 9am on saturday you can check out that full schedule on the flyer we've got for the car show and for flamborama itself on our website 98qcountry.com where I need to go archive this conversation so you or your loved ones or friends can listen back anytime that's 98qcountry.com and I'm actually here all the way until the brewers play at 2pm today taking it easy squeezing it in as many country songs as we can but it's all day all gray until the brewers play here on
98Q country.
